Thursday, December 1, 2011

An Android developer recently discovered a clandestine application called Carrier IQ built into most smartphones that doesn't just track your location; it secretly records your keystrokes, and there's nothing you can do about it. Is it time to put on a tinfoil hat? That depends on how you feel about privacy.

The reason for this invasive Android app seems reasonable enough at face value. Even though it's on most Android, BlackBerry and Nokia devices, most users would never know that Carrier IQ is running in the background, and that's sort of the point. Described on the company's website as software to gain "unprecedented insight into their customers' mobile experience," Carrier IQ is ostensibly supposed to help mobile carriers and device manufacturers gather data in order to improve their products. Tons of applications do this, and you're probably used to those boxes that pops up on your screen and ask if you want to help the company by sending your data back to them. If you're concerned about your privacy, you just tap no and go about your merry computing way. As security-conscious Android developer Trevor Eckhart realized, however, Carrier IQ does not give you this option, and unless you were code-savvy and looking for it, you'd never know it was there. And based on how aggressive the company has been in trying to keep Eckhart quiet about his discovery, it seems like Carrier IQ doesn't want you to know it's there either.

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About Me

About Me:Born in West Virginia, USA, I've lived and traveled in many
different places all over the planet, and
experienced many cultures.
As a boy, I grew up within the Protestant Christian matrix, embraced the
Bahá'í Faith when I was 19, and spent the rest of my life learning about other religions
and belief systems. My life experience has led me to what I would call unity consciousness - where I view myself, fellow humans and all other beings as part of the same Universal Tree.

Like an eagle, if we fly above all the diverse differences that we have, we see the truer reality of oneness. Our
differences are in fact our strengths, adding to the richness and
overall collective knowledge and
wisdom of our diverse and rich human species.

Human civilization is on the verge of an explosive growth in enlightened
consciousness - a flowering
of the arts and sciences, an end to fear, hatred, scarcity, poverty,
disease, manipulation,
obfuscation, injustice, and warfare - like the flowering of a Lotus!